| Note: The title of this article is conjecture and may be subject to change. |
The siege of Storm's End is a conflict during the War of the Five Kings. After both Stannis and Renly Baratheon proclaim themselves king, Stannis besieges Renly's seat, Storm's End, forcing Renly to ride for Storm's End to confront him. The conflict ends in victory for Stannis, and he gains a large part of Renly's cavalry following Renly's death. Having significantly increased his strength, this victory enables Stannis to march on King's Landing for the largest battle of the conflict, the Battle of the Blackwater.
Prelude
[edit]Following the death of King Robert I Baratheon, his heir, Prince Joffrey, is crowned.[6] However, Robert's two brothers also announce their own claims to the Iron Throne. Robert's youngest brother, Renly Baratheon, is the first to present his claim. Having fled King's Landing with Ser Loras Tyrell shortly before Robert's death, Renly rides to Highgarden, marries Margaery Tyrell, the daughter of Mace Tyrell, the Lord of Highgarden, and claims the throne a fortnight later.[7] Renly's strength comes from both the Reach and the stormlands.[8]
Renly's elder brother, Stannis, who had fled to his seat on Dragonstone, later proclaims his own claim for the throne, on account of his belief that Joffrey and his siblings had not been fathered by Robert, but instead by Queen Cersei's twin brother, Ser Jaime Lannister.[9] Although Stannis has been gathering his strength for half a year, he still lacks the strength to attack King's Landing, as few Houses are sworn to Dragonstone and the rocky, volcanic islands surrounding Dragonstone have a sparse population. Additionally, Stannis considers his brother's proclamation as a treasonous act, and is angered that the men of the stormlands have given their support to Renly, the Lord of Storm's End.[9]
With his huge host, Renly begins his march from Highgarden on the roseroad towards King's Landing, accompanied by his young bride,[10][11] but his host moves slowly.[12]
Stannis receives counsel from a red priestess, Melisandre, who tells him of two futures she has seen in her flames: one in which Stannis is defeated at King's Landing by his brother Renly, and one in which he sails to Storm's End, where his brother shall die, and his men will flock to Stannis.[2] With the strength he has gathered thus far, Stannis sets sail with his fleet for the stormlands.[13]
Siege
[edit]Beginning
[edit]Stannis arrives in the stormlands with five thousand men[1] and lays siege to the fortress Storm's End, Renly's seat on Shipbreaker Bay.[12][14] Stannis's foragers cut down trees to build siege towers and catapults.[1]
Renly is at Bitterbridge with his army when the news reaches his camp.[12] He splits his forces and rides with some twenty thousand cavalry to Storm's End to break the siege, leaving his foot behind. Lady Catelyn Stark, an envoy of her son Robb Stark, the new King in the North, accompanies Renly.[1]
Renly and Stannis
[edit]
Renly confronts Stannis in a parley outside Storm's End, during which he offers Stannis a peach. The unyielding brothers are unable to set aside their differences; instead, they agree that a battle is set to start at dawn the next day.[1]
Renly insists that Catelyn remain in his camp so that she can see the fate which awaits rebels.[1] Renly allows Catelyn to pray at a sept in a village near Storm's End, however, and Ser Robar Royce and Ser Wendel Manderly serve as Catelyn's escorts for the visit.[15]
Renly grants command of the center of his main battle to Lord Mathis Rowan, the left to Lord Bryce Caron, the right to himself, the reserve to Lord Estermont, and the vanguard to Ser Loras Tyrell, Lord Commander of the Rainbow Guard.[1]
Shortly before the battle is to start at dawn, while being armored for battle by Brienne of Tarth, Renly is killed by a shadow.[15] Ser Emmon Cuy and Ser Robar, who had been guarding the king's tent, accuse Brienne of the murder when they see Renly dead in Brienne's arms. Catelyn, who had witnessed Renly's death, convinces Robar that Brienne is innocent. Escaping Emmon, Catelyn and Brienne flee the camp and head for the riverlands.[15]
When he arrives at Renly's pavilion, a raging Loras kills Emmon and Robar for having failed to protect their king.[16] Loras buries Renly in a place they knew from when Loras was squiring with Renly at Storm's End, where no one will find and disturb the would-be king's remains.[17]
Resumption
[edit]
With Renly dead, the majority of the host that had accompanied him to Storm's End swears their allegiance to Stannis.[16] House Florent and both branches of House Fossoway also defect to Stannis, but a fifth of Renly's knights return to Bitterbridge with Loras.[16] First to join Stannis is Lord Alester Florent, the uncle of Stannis's queen, Selyse.[16]
The siege continues as Storm's End's castellan, Ser Cortnay Penrose, refuses to yield the castle to Stannis without first seeing Renly's missing body.[16] Stannis has the castle surrounded by land and sea.[18][2] He is willing to let the garrison go unharmed if they yield the castle and deliver him Edric Storm, the bastard son of King Robert I Baratheon and Renly's ward.[18] Since Edric greatly resembles his late father, Stannis hopes to use the boy's appearance to help prove that Queen Cersei Lannister's children were not fathered by Robert.[10] Fearing for Edric's safety, Cortnay sends ravens offering to submit to whichever other claimant in the War of the Five Kings can break Stannis's siege, including to Riverrun, but no help arrives.[18]
During a parley beneath the walls, Cortnay offers single combat with a champion of Stannis's choosing, but is rebuffed by the king.[2] In order to coerce Cortnay, several ideas are proposed, among them storming the castle, leaving a force to mount a protracted siege, or threatening to kill Cortnay's father, Lord Penrose. Stannis refuses all of these suggestions. Instead, he turns to Ser Davos Seaworth.[2]
To end the siege quickly, the Onion Knight smuggles Melisandre under the castle by boat, where he witnesses her giving birth to another shadow,[2] which assassinates Cortnay by throwing him from a tower.[19] Although it is reported that Cortnay threw himself, Lord Varys, the master of whisperers from Joffrey's small council, points out to Tyrion Lannister that Cortnay had not seemed lost to despair.[20]
Lord Elwood Meadows, Cortnay's young lieutenant,[2] names himself castellan after Cortnay's death and surrenders Storm's End to Stannis.[21]
Aftermath
[edit]Near sixty thousand men from Renly's army remain encamped at Bitterbridge[2] under lesser lords and officers,[22] but when news of Renly's death reaches them,[2] fighting breaks out between those who wish to support Stannis and those who follow House Tyrell's decision not to do so. Stannis sends Ser Parmen Crane and Ser Erren Florent to retrieve Renly's former army for him,[2] but they are taken prisoner.[5] Lord Randyll Tarly seizes the supplies and puts many men, mostly Florents, to death.[20]
In King's Landing, the small council of King Joffrey I decides to attempt to make an alliance with House Tyrell by offering to marry Joffrey to Margaery. Lord Petyr Baelish, representing Joffrey, travels from the capital to Bitterbridge[16] and then Highgarden[23] and concludes an alliance with the Tyrells. Riders are sent north to warn Joffrey's grandfather, Lord Tywin Lannister, of Stannis's threat to the capital.[24]
Stannis names Ser Gilbert Farring as his own castellan of Storm's End,[3] with Elwood Meadows as his second in command.[5] He leaves two hundred men to hold Storm's End,[3] and, after burning the castle godswood as an offering to R'hllor,[25] begins his march north towards King's Landing[26] while his fleet sets sail towards the city as well.[27]
The forces of Houses Baratheon, Lannister, and Tyrell meet in battle during the Battle of the Blackwater, one of the largest battles of the war.[27][28]
Quotes
[edit]
Tyrion: He's laid siege to Storm's End. Renly is riding to meet him.
Cersei: Stannis and Renly are fighting each other? Gods be good, I'm starting to believe that Robert was the clever one.[14]
Stannis: Do you think a few bolts of cloth will make you king?
Renly: Tyrell swords will make me king. Rowan and Tarly and Caron will make me king, with axe and mace and warhammer. Tarth arrows and Penrose lances, Fossoway, Cuy, Mullendore, Estermont, Selmy, Hightower, Oakheart, Crane, Caswell, Blackbar, Morrigen, Beesbury, Shermer, Dunn, Footly ... even House Florent, your own wife's brothers and uncles, they will make me king. All the chivalry of the south rides with me, and that is the least part of my power. My foot is coming behind, a hundred thousand swords and spears and pikes. And you will destroy me? With what, pray? That paltry rabble I see there huddled under the castle walls?[1]—Renly and Stannis Baratheon
Renly: My brother has not changed. Castles and courtesies will not appease him, he must have blood. Well, I am of a mind to grant his wish.
Mathis: Your Grace, I see no need for battle here. The castle is strongly garrisoned and well provisioned, Ser Cortnay Penrose is a seasoned commander, and the trebuchet has not been built that could breach the walls of Storm's End. Let Lord Stannis have his siege. He will find no joy in it, and whilst he sits cold and hungry and profitless, we will take King's Landing.
Renly: And have men say I feared to face Stannis?[1]
We should thank the gods that Ser Cortnay Penrose is as stubborn as he is. Stannis will never march north with Storm's End untaken in his rear.[16]
Stannis: I have twenty thousand men. You are besieged by land and sea. Why would I choose single combat when my eventual victory is certain? I give you fair warning. If you force me to take my castle by storm, you may expect no mercy. I will hang you for traitors, every one of you.
Cortnay: As the gods will it. Bring on your storm, my lord, and recall, if you do, the name of this castle.[2]
Stannis: Lord Velaryon will urge me to storm the castle walls at first light, grapnels and scaling ladders against arrows and boiling oil. The young mules will think this a splendid notion. Estermont will favor settling down to starve them out, as Tyrell and Redwyne once tried with me. That might take a year, but old mules are patient. And Lord Caron and the others who like to kick will want to take up Ser Cortnay's gauntlet and hazard all upon a single combat. Each one imagining he will be my champion and win undying fame. What would you have me do, smuggler?
Davos: Strike for King's Landing at once.
Stannis: And leave Storm's End untaken?[2]
Panting, she squatted and spread her legs. Blood ran down her thighs, black as ink. Her cry might have been agony or ecstasy or both. And Davos saw the crown of the child's head push its way out of her. Two arms wriggled free, grasping, black fingers coiling around Melisandre's straining thighs, pushing, until the whole of the shadow slid out into the world and rose taller than Davos, tall as the tunnel, towering above the boat. He had only an instant to look at it before it was gone, twisting between the bars of the portcullis and racing across the surface of the water, but that instant was long enough. He knew that shadow. As he knew the man who'd cast it.[2]
—thoughts of Davos Seaworth
Notes
[edit]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Houses Bolling, Buckler, Connington, Fell, Gower, Grandison, Hasty, Horpe, Peasebury, Staedmon, Wensington, and Wylde are not directly mentioned at the siege of Storm's End. However, as men from these houses fight for Stannis in the Battle of the Blackwater or in the north following the Blackwater, they may be present at Storm's End.
- ↑ Houses Ambrose, Bushy, Hunt, Inchfield, Leygood, and Willum are not directly mentioned at the siege of Storm's End. However, as men from these houses fight for the Tyrells (with the Willums instead fighting for Stannis) during the Battle of the Blackwater or other campaigns in the south, they may be present at Storm's End.
- ↑ Houses Bar Emmon, Chyttering, Follard, and Massey are not directly mentioned at the siege of Storm's End. However, as men from these houses fight for Stannis in the Battle of the Blackwater or in the north following the Blackwater, they may be present at Storm's End.
- ↑ House Willum is not directly mentioned at the siege of Storm's End. However, as Willums fight for Stannis in the Battle of the Blackwater, they may be present at Storm's End.
- ↑ The host of Renly Baratheon is said to number a hundred thousand (A Clash of Kings, Tyrion IV). Renly himself claims to have eighty thousand with him at Bitterbridge, while another ten thousand are with Lord Mace Tyrell at Highgarden (A Clash of Kings, Catelyn II). The forces of House Tyrell make up the majority of Renly's forces. Renly's cavalry, said by Catelyn Stark to number ten thousand (A Clash of Kings, Catelyn IV), accompanies him to Storm's End to lift the siege, while his foot, according to Stannis near sixty thousand strong (A Clash of Kings, Davos II), remains at Bitterbridge when Renly goes to lift the siege of Storm’s End. As Renly previously stated that the total of his men numbered eighty thousand, either Catelyn was incorrect in her statement and Renly's cavalry actually numbered ~twenty thousand, or Stannis was wrong and Renly's foot actually numbered ~seventy thousand, or Renly had been exaggerating by stating eighty thousand while he actually had only seventy thousand men. The first option seems most likely, as Stannis, who originally had five thousand men (A Clash of Kings, Catelyn III), has twenty thousand men shortly after Renly's death (A Clash of Kings, Davos II), indicating that ~15,000 men from Renly's army have joined him. As only one fifth of Renly's knights did not join Stannis (A Clash of Kings, Tyrion IX), the total of Renly's cavalry numbered ~18.750 men, nearing twenty thousand.
- ↑ Stannis originally has five thousand men (A Clash of Kings, Catelyn III), but describes his host as numbering twenty thousand men shortly after Renly's death (A Clash of Kings, Davos II), while Davos Seaworth describes the host as “nearly twenty thousand” men strong shortly before the start of the Battle of the Blackwater (A Clash of Kings, Davos III)
References
[edit]- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 1.30 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 31, Catelyn III.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 2.23 2.24 2.25 2.26 2.27 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 42, Davos II.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 36, Davos IV.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 65, Sansa VIII.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 A Storm of Swords, Appendix.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 57, Sansa V.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 69, Tyrion IX.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 71, Catelyn XI.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 A Clash of Kings, Prologue.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 10, Davos I.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 17, Tyrion IV.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 22, Catelyn II.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 41, Tyrion IX.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 25, Tyrion VI.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 33, Catelyn IV.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 16.5 16.6 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 36, Tyrion VIII.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 67, Jaime VIII.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 39, Catelyn V.
- ↑ George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Cortnay Penrose.
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 44, Tyrion X.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 45, Catelyn VI.
- ↑ So Spake Martin: AFter Renly, May 31, 2000
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 68, Sansa VI.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 14, Catelyn II.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 49, Tyrion XI.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 52, Sansa IV.
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 58, Davos III.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 62, Sansa VII.
- Articles with conjectural titles
- Battles
- Sieges
- War of the Five Kings
- Storm's End
- House Baratheon battles
- House Caron battles
- House Celtigar battles
- House Errol battles
- House Estermont battles
- House Farring battles
- House Florent battles
- House Fossoway of Cider Hall battles
- House Fossoway of New Barrel battles
- House Meadows battles
- House Morrigen battles
- House Rowan battles
- House Seaworth battles
- House Tarly battles
- House Tyrell battles
- House Varner battles
- House Velaryon battles